A friend of mine landed the highest paying job back in college. For the heck of this narrative let’s call her Asha. She just had to move to another city to start this amazing job which gave her weekends off, various benefits, and a good in-hand package. We all were happy for her, but envious too.

What it means to be unhappy in a high-paying job

Months passed and while we were still struggling in our jobs, Asha got a promotion. She moved back to Delhi in less than a year of getting her first job and was at an even higher pay now. This was a fairy tale most of us wished for and she was living it.

Little did I know that she was unhappy. The promotion she had pushed for was actually her only chance of getting back to Delhi without quitting her first job within a few months. She felt her job was cheating her. She had applied for a position, got another, and was doing a third thing. I only got to know when I met her, that she had been using most of her pay for sessions with a therapist.

Running pillar to post looking for stability and happiness

Coming back to Delhi didn’t help her much as she had thought. Her family did not understand the importance of mental health. They were perplexed by her behaviour and called her thankless. It must have really bothered her because she started to cut them off emotionally, not sharing anything about work stress with them.

There must have been a lot going on in her mind when she finally quit her job for good. Asha, however, did have a plan. She was passionate about board games and always had an idea about how one would be if she were to ever make it. It was all uphill from there for her, but only emotionally. She had little savings which barely lasted two months and her family wasn’t very supportive.

Friends came in where family was expected to help

This is where we stepped in, her old college friends. Through contacts she was able to land an apprenticeship with a small-time board game manufacturers and learned all the tricks of the trade while being paid the bare minimum. The pay did not matter to her and soon, she used their company to launch her own board game which she had worked on day in and day out. All this while she crashed at my place to avoid intrusive, unsupportive, but worried parents and family. They had their reasons, which is what worked against them. We, as friends, had no reason and no concern except to just support Asha blindly.

A study proves that friends will support a friend more than their family in such cases

A survey conducted by OkCupid, an online app, reported that 88% friends ‘will support their friend in following their passion over high-paying jobs that they don’t love.’ This is a generation that won’t compromise on their ambition and happiness. They encourage others in pursuing their dreams even if it means taking a gamble as big as this, without asking questions.